Even before John Edward won a Senate seat in 1998, he was well known throughout North Carolina. One of the states favorite sons, Edwards, who is called "Johnny" in his hometown, was a nationally recognized trial lawyer who became a millionaire by winning some of North Carolina's largest damage awards. He was known in his state for his "David and Goliath" trials in which he represented "ordinary Americans'" who sued insurance companies, hospitals, and businesses. Law students flocked to his trials to watch him in action. But very few North Carolinians thought of Edwards as a politician when he, without any political experience or hitherto evident interest, announced his candidacy for the 1998 Senate election and ultimately defeated Lauch Faircloth, the incumbent Republican.

Descended from generations of textile workers, Edwards came from humble beginnings. He was born June 10, 1953 in Seneca, S.C. His father, Wallace Edwards, was the supervisor of a textile factory and his mother, Bobblie, was a post post office worker who also ran an antique store. In the sixth grade Edwards' family moved to Robbins, N.C., and he attended public school there.

In high school, Edwards was a natural sportsman, lettering in football, basketball, track and tennis. His senior year he almost received a scholarship for football, but when that didn't pan out he enrolled in North Carolina State University. Edwards was the first member of his family to go to college and he graduated with honors in 1974. He promptly continued his education, enrolling at University of North Carolina's law school. In 1977, the day after graduating law school, he married his wife, Elizabeth, and moved to Nashville where joined a law firm that defended banks and insurance companies.

After several years of defending corporations, Edwards decided to return to North Carolina. In 1982, he joined the law firm of Tharrington, Smith and Hargrove and started a civil litigation section. Employing the experience and insights he gained through years of working with the large, institutional interests, Edwards soon became one of the firm's top lawyers, rarely losing a case.

In 1985, Edwards sued on behalf of a six-year-old girl who had suffered brain damage when she was born at Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C. At trial, he won a $6.5 million award on her behalf, the largest malpractice award in the state's history to that point. In 1993, Edwards left Tharrington, Wade, and Hargrove and went into personal injury law. Along with David F. Kirby and C. Mark Holt, he founded Edwards & Kirby, L.L.P., where he achieved his most stunning successes. In 1997 he won two landmark cases with judgments that totaled more than $50 million. In September, Edwards won a $23 million dollar verdict for the parents of a baby who was born with severe brain damage, which was due to the doctor's negligence and in January, he won $30.9 million in awards and settlements for a girl who was seriously injured by a swimming pool drain.

In his 20 years as a lawyer, Edwards has a number of trophies he can boast. In at least 63 big cases, he won more than $152 million. His performance earned him an induction into the Inner Circle of Advocates, a society of 100 of the nations best lawyers (all of whom have won at least one case with an award worth $1 million) and a mention as one of Lawyer Weekly USA's "Lawyers of the Year" in 1996. His great fortune, earned from the cases he won, and a cornucopia of professional contacts that he amassed during his career permitted him to make his unexpected jump into the political realm.

In 1997, two popular North Carolina Democrats decided that they would not run for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate. This created an opportunity in the party that a number of second tiers candidates and hitherto unknowns rushed to fill. John Edwards was among those who threw his hat in the ring.

While he had no political experience, and an inconsistent voting record to boot, Edwards almost immediately became a top contender for the nomination, thanks to his fortune. At the time that he entered the race in 1997, he was personally worth between $13.7 million and $38.6 million and he put this money to good use. Edwards hired a 26-person campaign staff that included all-Star Democratic strategists. These included Bob Shrum, a former Clinton advisor and media consultant, Gary Pierce, a media strategist and advisor, and Harris Hickman, a top Democratic pollster.

Other Democrats in the primary simply could not compete with Edwards' well-heeled campaign. While he swore to take no donations from political action committees, Edwards was heavily backed by lawyers (at least 66 members of the Inner Circle of Advocates donated to his 1998 campaign) and eventually raised $3 million for the primary alone. This amount was more than double the war chest of his most prominent opponent.

With his money, he launched an effective campaign relying heavily on focus groups, sophisticated polls and television advertising. However, Edwards also worked hard on the micro level of politics, the personal contact with the constituents. Before the election, he traveled to every county in the state, large and small, rich and poor. He stumped in Golden Corrals and peoples' living rooms and proclaimed his blissfully simple agenda: "Ultimately my campaign is about a very, very simple thing—restoring your faith."

Emphasizing his standing as a dark horse, Edwards stressed his freedom from special interests, lobbying groups, and PACs and his concern for the ordinary voter. Evidently, Edward's message got across to voters and he won the Democratic primary. The 1998 Senate campaign pitted Edwards against Rep. Senator Faircloth. Faircloth and his committee initially tried to use Edward's experience as a lawyer against him. Labeling him as little more than a glorified ambulance chaser, Faircloth's campaign called Edwards "rapacious" and a member of the "powerful interest in Washington."

Nevertheless, Edwards, with his boyish good looks, populist rhetoric, and well-financed campaign, won the election.

Edwards has gotten a good deal of publicity since becoming a Senator. In 2000 he made Al Gore's short list for vice presidential nominees. In November of the same year, an article in People named him the "sexiest politician," and he has recently agreed to publish a book with Simon & Schuster about "lessons learned during his distinguished legal career."

In August 2001, Edwards formed a leadership PAC, New American Optimists, New American Optimists spent more than $380,000 in key primary states like New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina.

He'll likely be spending a good deal of his time in those states in the coming months.